BlogWire

A round-up of the latest news from state & local blogs.

Procurement

Monday, September 25, 2006

You may recall that HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson gave a speech in April in which he boasted about denying a federal contract to someone who didn't support President Bush.

This remark led to an investigation by HUD's inspector general. The agency IG concludes that Jackson did, in fact, seek to play political favorites.

Shocking, right?

But here's the funny part. Jackson argues that the report, in fact, exonerates him. HUD staff never gave in to his pressure to politicize the contracting practice. Therefore, since nothing really happened, Jackson claims he's not guilty of anything.

"As I stated previously, during my tenure, no contract has been cancelled, rescinded, terminated, awarded or not awarded due to the personal or political benefits of the recipient," he said in a statement Thursday.

No harm, no foul. Jackson, does, however, admit one mistake: the fact that he opened his mouth in the first place. "I sincerely regret my April 28 remarks that led to this investigation."

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, appearing at a Dallas forum late last month, dispensed some advice to a real estate coalition about landing work with the government. A surefire way to find yourself cut out, he said, was to express any disapproval of President Bush.

That's what happened to a potential contractor who had finally landed work with the department, after years of trying. But while thanking Jackson, he made the error of admitting that he didn't like Bush.

"He didn't get the contract," Jackson said. "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe."

Late update -- Jackson released a statement saying, "I deeply regret the anecdotal remarks," and he said that during his tenure "no contract has ever been rewarded, rejected or rescinded due to the personal or political beliefs of the recipient."

Here is a statement attributed to Jackson's spokesperson posted on a washingtonpost.com chat:

"He was merely trying to explain to the audience how people in D.C., will say critical things about the secretary, will unfairly characterize the president and then turn around and ask you for money. He did not actually meet with someone and turn down a contract. He's not part of the contracting process."

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Ethics reforms passed by Philadelphia voters last week will cost $1 million to implement, the Philly Inquirerreports today. Want to regulate no-bid contracts more tightly? Well okay, but the computer systems for tracking contracts will need some work ($500,000). Other costs include materials to educate vendors, the public and city staff, and, as always, consultants.

Bonus: the contracting reforms, it turns out, don't apply to municipal bond transactions. That's where the hanky panky that sparked the reform drive in the first place was happening.